TaskRabbit Turns Grunt Work Into a Game | Hacker News Reader

TaskRabbit Turns Grunt Work Into a Game

wired.com

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I've lifesourced the following things:

- wedding envelope stuffing and addressing (TaskRabbit)

- travel itinerary, safety, and language school research (TaskRabbit)

- idea generation (Mechanical Turk)

- scanning of wedding thank you cards (TaskRabbit)

- wedding photo cleanup (Fiverr)

- logo design (Fiverr)

- article research (TaskRabbit)

- custom octopus-related pottery as a wedding gift (non-Etsy online artist)

- other custom artwork (Etsy)

I actually own lifesourcer.com, which was intended to be a blog about outsourcing parts of your life, but I've failed to actually do anything with it. As to outsource this as well, if you're interested in this topic and want to write about it, feel free to contact me and we can partner.

I'd definitely be interested in reading more about this.

"Since many common tasks are carried out in the senders’ homes, runners are vetted through a three-step process, which starts with an application form and progresses to an automated phone or video interview that poses a series of questions designed to weed out deadbeats. Finally, TaskRabbit pays the database giant Acxiom to perform a federal criminal background check on each prospective worker."

Sounds like what AirBnB should be doing for both renters and hosts...

I spent 4 months in NYC unemployed and twiddling my thumbs. I would have been so much happier to run around, putting together desks, dropping off groceries and waiting in line for people. Ad hoc productivity and pay sounds delightful.

Yeah, probably alot of people of all kinds of backgrounds would find this kind of "temp" work, to be very appealing. It's a total win-win both for the runners who do tasks, and the end-customers, who get tasks done.

It's interesting that in the UK TV series of the Apprentice, the candidate who came second lost for having this as their business plan. TaskRabbit have a better set of suggested tasks than she did though, and a better demographic/channel (SV intetnet) compared to a UK-wide phone service.

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/series7/helen-louise-milliga...

Not really, she was tackling the same problem as TaskRabbit but with a completely different solution. Her solution was a franchise business of individuals who did tasks, which has completely different economics to the marketplace model of TaskRabbit.

Yes, you're certainly right that TaskRabbit is tackling the same problem in a different way. It was similar enough to remind me and achieved the same ends though.

I guess my point is that ideas really are unimportant, because even what appears to be the same idea on the surface can be totally different from a business perspective. All in the execution.

This concept is beyond brilliant. What an unbelievable stress reliever, to be able to have all sorts of tasks done for you, at a time that's convenient. If it turns out to be scalable / reproducable, it could be a real disruptor to parts of the labor market too. This is true innovation. All fingers crossed for the success of these guys.

This should push so many buttons, in particular those belonging to unions & folks who still think minimum wage laws are a good idea.

? I think this is a good idea, and I think unions and minimum wage laws are a good idea.

you appear to think there is some kind of contradiction there?

What if I (as a runner) bid $10 on a task that took me two hours to complete?

Minimum wage laws are there to prevent employees from being paid peanuts. They don't apply to the self-employed.

what if you did? that would make you a bad businessman, but I dont think your business acumen is an argument either for or against the minimum wage?

I would expect minimum-wage laws would still apply? I mean, they may be hard to enforce for short-term cash-only transactions, but that's true with other informal jobs as well: Craigslist gigs, or even the old-fashioned method of paying one of the guys standing outside Home Depot for a few hours of construction labor.

(Though an interesting question would be whether TaskRabbit makes any attempt to enforce minimum wages, or if that's the responsibility of the buyer.)

I imagine the individuals would count as self-employed contractors and so wouldn't fall under minimum wage laws due to not being employees.

Great idea, and the video is very very well done. The top rated guy seems very kind, considerate and hard working.. Made me really grin to browse around their site. Good luck!!

The illustration reminded me of a story, seventy years old this month, by Robert A. Heinlein ( "—We Also Walk Dogs" , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E2%80%94We_Also_Walk_Dogs ): "Want somebody murdered? Then DON'T call General Services. But for anything else, call.... It Pays!"

Of course, this is improved by clever game-style hooks and actual implementation via internet on a much wider labor pool.

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